Skip to main content

Notes on Cambodia – Part I

We wanted to visit Cambodia on this trip because it’s the only country we know of where the children attend school in the summer. We spent two weeks in Siem Reap (the town closest to Angkor Wat) this summer and were able to visit a lot of schools and talk to a lot of local Khmer.
Money
According to Cambodia’s Prime Minister, 50% of that country’s budget relies on foreign aid. On the one hand, it’s good that foreign governments and people are helping this poor country (one of the poorest in SE Asia), but on the other hand, seeing all the corruption and lack of involvement of the government makes me wonder if the aid is a good thing, or just allowing the county to slide by without any incentive to fix itself.
Now I am not trying to be judgmental, but I certainly think that there are some screwed-up things happening there. And after talking to a lot of locals, I know that many Khmer feel the same way that I do.


Let me give you a few examples of what I mean. You’ve all heard of Angkor Wat (one of hundreds of temples in the Angkor region). To see these temples (even from the outside), tourists have to buy an Angkor Pass. These come in 1-day ($20), 3-day ($40) and one-week ($60) increments. One could easily argue that these passes are one of (if not the) biggest income-generating schemes in Siem Reap (and perhaps all of Cambodia). But these passes are not sold by the government, nor any subsidiary of the government. No, these passes are sold by – and enforced by – a private Vietnamese hotel chain. Presumably, someone in the government gets a slice of this pie, but you can be sure that no commoner gets a penny. I think about how well Cambodia would be doing if they simply took over running Angkor.

Another example is the new "Angkor National Museum". We were excited to see this museum open this year, filled with artifact and information about the Angkor area. It’s big – and expensive. Tourists pay $12 each (plus $3 extra to bring a camera in, but you can only take pictures outside). Locals have to pay $5 (about a week’s pay if you’re doing fairly well). It turns out that this “National” museum was built by Thailand, which has a contract to run it for the next 30 years. Do the local Khmer see any of this money? No. But the Prime Minister’s daughter gets a cut.

One last example illustrates just how much all of Cambodia’s foreign aid costs. Japan has been a huge contributor to the infrastructure of Cambodia, paying for paved highways and electricity to go into the countryside. Our friends tell us that Japan had to pay a bribe in order to pay to have this work done. And the ruling party does not support passing an anti-corruption bill??

Keep in mind that the mean gross national income (GNI) per capita is about $500/year. BUT most people we met make way less than that because most of the money coming in doesn’t see the average person. For example, K-12 teachers only make between $25-50 per month. That’s only $300-600 per year. (And we didn’t meet any teachers that made more than $40 per month.) We’re told that many teachers leave the profession to become tuk-tuk drivers or tour guides; but the teachers that stay have their own way of generating extra income (more on that later).

Many people we spoke to expressed a hope of one day becoming a guide because guides make tons of money. English-speaking guides get paid $20 per day, whereas French-speaking guides get $35/day and Spanish-speaking guides get $50/day. Spanish-speaking guides used to make $80/day, but more Khmer are learning Spanish, saturating the market.

But becoming a guide isn’t as easy as you might think: you have to be an “official” guide to take tourists to Angkor temples – and getting an official guide pass is expensive. Most Khmer pay $3000 to be an official guide, and it is not uncommon to have officials pocket the money and give nothing in return! On the other hand, if they know someone higher up, the price may be reduced to $2800. BUT, if they have a high school diploma, then they only pay $1600. The difference in price for those with a 12-grade diploma is shocking. I’ll talk more about education in part II, but suffice it to say that getting a high school diploma in Cambodia is as difficult (if not more difficult) then getting a Bachelor’s degree in the States.
Inflation
You’ve heard about food prices increasing across the globe, and Cambodia is no exception. The cost of living has doubled in the last year and the price of food is no exception.

Last year, $1 would buy breakfast for two locals; now $1 won't even buy one breakfast.
A gallon of gas is now about $4.75 – up from almost half that.
1 kilo of rice was about 43 cents last year, and now it’s up to 88 cents. (And that’s just the average quality rice.) When the typhoon hit Burma, the price of rice went up THREE TIMES in ONE DAY! Rice has become so expensive that many people (especially the poorer people in rural areas) no longer cook rice the normal way – they can’t afford to. Most of them now make rice porridge to eat with their meals.
We interviewed a monk who runs both schools and an orphanage. When we asked him what supplies his schools needed most, without any hesitation whatsoever, he replied, “Rice.”
The price of land in Cambodia is also going through the roof. Many rural people are having their land bought from under them and resold at 3 times the price.

In the tourist area of Siem Reap, a shop that rented for $600 last year goes for $1000 - $1500 now. Deposits for a rental place have also gone up. Last year, the landlord only asked for a 1 month deposit. Now, you have to deposit 3 months! BUT if you have a 3-year lease, the landlord requires a deposit of one whole year. Can you imagine?? Guess how many businesses are actually owned by locals? Few and far between!

Many restaurants have signs that say, “Khmer run business,” which makes a lot of tourists think, “Oh, then I’ll go there and support the locals.” But wait! Nearly every single business is run by locals because the foreigners that own them can afford to not be there. I asked a few “Khmer run businesses” if they were actually owned by Khmer, and (no surprise) they are owned by foreigners. (Our favorite Khmer food restaurant is actually both owned and run by Khmer.)

Look for part II of the Cambodia chronicles, where I’ll discuss corruption and education. You might think those two are unrelated, but (sadly) you’d be wrong.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Overwhelming Support for Nepal

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude by the outpouring of support from friends, family, colleagues, and students. Thanks to you, we received about a dozen boxes and two dozen bags of donations!  Not all of it was completely appropriate clothing, so some of it will be donated to local homeless shelters.  That said, the vast majority will be going to Nepal.  

Eastern Bali

Last week we left Flores and Kanawa behind, and made our way to Tulamben, in Eastern Bali.  Toulamben is home of a volcano that was last active in 1965, USAT Liberty wreck just offshore, and black sand/rock beaches. 

Shark! Jellyfish!! Turtle!!!

After my moonlit dip, I slept like a rock, as I often do when there's an ocean nearby. Unless there's also a fog horn. Or a mosque.  I woke up to use the bathroom and realized that dawn was just breaking. It was a gorgeous morning, so I decided to climb the Kanawa Island hill to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful.